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GIS Resources Services
Once you’ve used the National Geothermal Data System (NGDS) Map or Data to locate the data records you are looking for, you can use the resources, models, and tools described here to interact with the data. Interoperable data available through the NGDS can be accessed using a Web Map Service or Web Feature Service. These web services display spatially referenced data dynamically as a map. NGDS has created a series of tutorial videos that provide how-to guides for common access scenarios using a variety of database, WMS, or WFS software.
Web Map Services are visualization tools that allow you to display map images on your computer without having to download or store all the data. A map is not the data itself, but a rendering of it. WMS-produced maps are generally rendered in a pictorial format such as PNG, GIF or JPEG. Two or more maps produced in a WMS with the same paramaters and output size can be overlaid to produce a composite map. This contrasts to a Web Feature Service (WFS), which returns the actual data.
Web Feature Services are interfaces that use a shapefile of geographically-specific data to portray geographical features overlaid on a basemap. Where a WMS displays a static image, data displayed through a WFS is dynamic and can be manipulated for spatial analysis. One excellent application to view and acquire WFS data is the Data Explorer, where the WFS URL from any NGDS GIS resource provides data mash-ups and downloads.
Almost any GIS software, proprietary (e.g. ArcGIS Explorer, Google Earth) or free and open source (e.g. UDig, QGIS) can be used to view NGDS GIS data. After going to the given site or downloading and installing the GIS software, simply copy the WMS and/or WFS URLs from a Data Details page of any NGDS data resource and follow the instructions as in the application’s documentation. For examples of scenarios in which one might acquire, analyze, and manipulate NGDS GIS data, please see some step-by-step instructions based on a few likely user scenarios located at the NGDS GitHub or refer to the NGDS Tutorial videos on Youtube.